Good debut ep for the Chilean/US duo Æra. The South American musician Ulf Kveldulfsson proposes an atmospheric black metal with viking pagan propensities on which rest the abrasive vocals of Tzel Vae, author also of the lyrics. This first taste that comes out on CD for the Italian label De Tenebrarum Principio (after having been published in a limited edition cassette) offers us a reality able to interpret with a good attitude and interesting ideas the genre in its typically Scandinavian features. I don’t know if the Chilean multi-instrumentalist’s nickname is a nickname or if it actually derives from north-European descent, the fact is that, in any case, in both cases his generalities don’t appear out of place, in the light of the orthodoxy and the mastery with which the matter is faced. The three tracks, on average about seven minutes long, are quite exhaustive about the duo’s ability to express the best of a genre exhibited with a decidedly direct look, without digressions and focused with good continuity on the production of epic and solemn atmospheres: Of Forsworn Vows is an ep already certainly exhaustive about the potential of a new name like Æra, in possession of all the trappings to carve out a position of respect in the scene: in this sense, the inevitable litmus test will be a possible next full length on whose goodness I already feel right now to bet.

2017 – De Tenebrarum Principio